Everybody wants their 15 minutes of fame and Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver is no different. Mr. Cleaver injected himself into the race for the White House by making controversial statements that he knew the biased FOXNews would instantly pounce on and re-run every 15 minutes on all its stations.
In an interview with Canada’s CBC Radio, he said:
“I think for many white Americans, they are looking at Barack Obama and saying, ‘This is our chance to demonstrate that we have been able to get this boogeyman called race behind us, and so they’re going to vote for him, whether he has credentials or not, whether he has any experience, I think all that’s out the window.”
In so saying, Mr. Cleaver gives the impression that whites would vote for Obama based solely on his skin color. But Cleaver isn’t too far off the mark.
American voters are known for ignoring the issues and choosing their presidents based on his popularity or how handsome he looks on the cover of Newsweek. John F. Kennedy comes to mind, for example.
So Cleaver suggesting that whites (or blacks) will vote for Obama because he’s black sounds about right to me. Deep down inside, we all know it’s true. I’d rather see Obama on the cover of Newsweek than Hillary Clinton’s mug any day.
While I still don’t believe Obama can beat John McCain in a tight race, I do think he will win the Democratic nomination – making him the first biracial man in U.S. history to do so.
